The Mississippi Choctaw

Family of Mississippi Choctaws Dressed in Traditional Clothing

1908

For the Five Civilized Tribes, the time of the allotment process was similar to their Removal in the suffering and injustices that were inflicted on them. I can't begin to list all the examples of greed, prejudice and cruelty that have been recorded, but perhaps a few examples will give you a feeling for the period. The first story I want to tell concerns the "Mississippi Choctaw." 

In the Choctaw removal treaty of 1830, The Treaty of Dancing Rabbit Creek, the Choctaw were given the option of remaining in Mississippi and subjecting themselves to the white man's laws, or of removing to Indian Territory. Much to the surprise and disappointment of the Mississippi whites, about 1/3 of the tribe decided to stay in their homeland. According to the treaty they were to be given allotments and U.S. citizenship. In an attempt to force the recalcitrants to remove, the Choctaw agent in Mississippi, William Ward, neglected to file the Choctaws' applications for allotment, and when they complained he threatened them. Meanwhile white settlers overran the Choctaw land, and drove the people from their homes with or without a legal deed.  

Each year after the official removal, which took place in 1832, more and more Choctaws migrated west to join their relatives in Indian Territory. Over the years the federal government and also the Choctaw Nation sent several delegations to visit the Mississippi Choctaws to convince them to join their brethren in Indian Territory, but these efforts met with only limited success.  

The following is an excerpt from a reply given by Chief Cobb of the Mississippi Choctaws in 1843 to Capt. J. J. McRae, during a visit with tribal leaders urging them to move to Indian Territory. 

Brother: When you were young we were strong; we fought by your side; but our arms are now broken. You have grown large. My people have become small.

Brother: My voice is weak; you can scarcely hear me; it is not the shout of a warrior but the wail of an infant. I have lost it in mourning over the misfortunes of my people. These are their graves, and in those aged pines you hear the ghosts of the departed. - Their ashes are here, and we have been left to protect them. Our warriors are nearly all gone to the far country west; but here are our dead. Shall we go too, and give their bones to the wolves?

……….

Brother: Our hearts are full. Twelve winters ago our chiefs sold our country. Every warrior that you see here was opposed to the treaty. If the dead could have counted, it could never have been made, but alas! though they stood around, they could not be seen or heard. Their tears came in the raindrops, and their voices in the wailing wind, but the pale faces knew it not, and our land was taken away.

….. When you took our country, you promised us land. There is your promise in the book. Twelve times have the trees dropped their leaves, and yet we have received no land. Our houses have been taken from us. The white man's plow turns up the bones of our fathers. We dare not kindle our fires; and yet you said we might remain and you would give us land.

Footnote: The Rise and Fall of the Choctaw Nation. Angie Debo, P 70

At the time of the allotment process, several thousand Choctaws still remained in Mississippi, eking out a living by working on cotton plantations.  

While the tribal rolls were being compiled, two tribal citizens, Robert Owen and Charles Winton devised a scheme to profit from the plight of the Mississippi Choctaw. They secured the support of Mississippi congressman John Sharp Williams, who represented the district where most of the Choctaw lived, and through Williams submitted memorials to Congress requesting land in Indian Territory for these unfortunate Indians. Then they  went to Mississippi and made contracts with 1000 Choctaw families to obtain allotments for them for a 50% contingency fee. If the plan had succeeded it would have meant that several million dollars worth of Choctaw property would have been deeded to the Mississippi Choctaws. Then 50% would have gone to Owens and Winton, and most of the rest to Williams and his white constituents, as soon as they were able to swindle the trusting Indians out of their property.  

Fortunately the Dawes Commission didn't fall for this scheme, but Owen and Winton later won a judgment for $175,000 for these contracts which was paid for out of the Choctaw trust fund.   

Footnote: And Still the Waters Run. Angie Debo. P 42 - 44 

In 1898 when the Curtis Act was passed, the Dawes Commission was directed to include the Mississippi Choctaws on their rolls, making them eligible for allotments. This opened up another opportunity for unscrupulous whites.  

Congress had appropriated $20,000 to bring the Mississippi Choctaws to Indian Territory. Once there each family was to be assigned an allotment, and provided with food, a tent, and tools with which to build a house and to begin farming. Unfortunately this project was handled much like the Removal. Bids for the appropriation were won by land companies whose only interest was to swindle the Indians out of their land. It was the Removal all over again. Poor Choctaw families were crowded into boxcars like cattle, and then housed in unsanitary barracks while real estate agents worked on them to sign away their allotments.

The scheme didn't work for either the Choctaws or the swindlers. Since the land was inalienable, the contracts obtained by the real estate agents were illegal. As for the Mississippi Choctaws. 2534 were enrolled; 1578 came to Indian Territory, but many of those abandoned their allotments and returned to Mississippi.  

Footnote: And Still the Waters Run, Angie Debo. P 44, and P 97-8.

In 1903 the Choctaw Nation managed to present a bill creating a commission to assist their fullbloods in choosing allotments but President Roosevelt vetoed the bill.

Footnote: Rise and Fall of the Choctaw Nation, Angie Debo. P 277.

Over the years the Mississippi Choctaws were used in many schemes to extract money or property from the Choctaw estate. One was through wills. The swindler would get a signature on a will bequeathing the Indian's allotment to him. For example in one will written in 1906 a Mississippi Choctaw bequeathed five dollars "to my dear wife," and to the swindler, "the balance of my allotment." Instead of waiting for a natural death many of these Indians were murdered. About 1000 such wills were declared invalid by District Judge Hosea Townsend in 1907, but after Oklahoma statehood his decision was reversed by a state court, and that decision was later upheld by the Supreme Court, so these fraudulent wills stood.

Footnote: And Still the Waters Run, Angie Debo. P 113-4 

After the assignment of allotments, there was still something like $30 mil in property and trust accounts belonging to the Chickasaw and Choctaw tribes, so again the Mississippi Choctaws became pawns of white men in an attempt to get at this wealth. The basis for all these schemes was the assumption that once the property or money was given to the Indians, they could easily be cheated out of it. The Mississippi Choctaws, whose ancestors were shrewd and educated, had lived through two generations of poverty, so they were uneducated and gullible, especially ripe targets for the swindlers.  

The Mississippi congressional delegation was particularly active in these schemes because of the presence of the Mississippi Choctaws in their midst. During the 1912 - 13 legislative session the Mississippi delegation, led by John Sharp Williams, the same Congressman involved in the 1896 Mississippi Choctaw allotment scheme, made many impassioned pleas on the floor of the Senate and House of Representatives in behalf of the Mississippi Choctaw to obtain access to the Choctaw trust fund.  

These efforts were allegedly made in behalf of the fullbloods but the bills were worded to include anyone who could was remotely related by blood or marriage to a Choctaw citizen. These scams might have been successful were it not for research done by the Choctaw attorney, Patrick J. Hurley. He produced evidence that during 1910 and 11 speculators had secured thousands of contracts with a contingency fee of 30% from claimants to Indian citizenship. These companies then sold shares for $25 for twenty contracts. If the scheme worked, assuming that Choctaw citizenship was worth $8000, the 30% contingency fee would be divided between the attorney and the investor, so each would realize a profit of $23,000 on an investment of $500. Another company promised a $120 return for every dollar invested. As ludicrous as these schemes were, the Congressional debate on the issue delayed payment of per capita distributions to legitimate Choctaw tribal members for several years.   

Footnote: And Still: P 267 - 270 

In spite of all these efforts by their "defenders," the Mississippi Choctaws remained in poverty, the victims of isolation and prejudice into the twentieth century. In 1934 President Franklin Delano Roosevelt signed The Indian Reorganization Act, which enabled the Mississippi Choctaw to become a recognized tribe. In 1944, after writing a constitution and forming a government, the Mississippi Choctaw were recognized as a separate tribe and in 1945 they were given 18,000 acres in Neshoba County, Mississippi, for a reservation. In spite of attempts during the 1950's by federal and local governments to terminate tribal governments, the Mississippi Choctaws survived. Since then Native Americans have gradually won the right to develop both culturally and economically, and now the Mississippi Choctaws are one of the largest employers in Mississippi.

In 2008 the Nanih Waiya mound, according to tradition the site of origin of the Choctaw Tribe, was turned over by the State of Mississippi to the Mississippi Choctaws.

(see post of 10/30/2010, Choctaw and Chickasaw Origins)